Srinath Pashikanti, Ph.D
Associate Professor (BMS)
Office: Leonard Hall 250A, Pocatello
Synthetic Medicinal Chemistry • Protein Biochemistry • Bioanalytical Chemistry
Dr. Pashikanti has an MS degree in Chemistry & Biochemistry from South Dakota State University, an MS and Ph.D. in Medicinal Chemistry from The University of Kansas. Pashikanti Lab utilizes organic chemistry towards synthesis of cell permeable medicinally active analogs. Our current efforts are aimed to develop, synthesize and screen small molecules in targeting ceramide metabolizing enzymes. Ceramide is a bioactive sphingolipid that exhibits anticancer properties in cancer cells. Strategies aimed at increasing the cellular ceramide induce apoptosis in cancer cells. To complement our synthetic efforts, we utilize tools for protein biochemistry to perform in vitro experiments and cell-based assays in determining the biological activity of these analogs in a structure-activity relationship model.
He is an assistant professor in the Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences Department. He is actively involved in mentoring graduate and professional pharmacy students. His didactics include Principles of Drug Design and Drug Action, Physicochemical Basis of Drug Action, Principles of Biopharmaceutical Analysis, Advanced Organic Synthesis, Dissertation Research, Thesis Research, Independent Problems in Pharmaceutical Sciences, Pharmaceutical Science Research.